“Stop treating me like an invalid,” she said with a smile. “I can still kick your ass.”
I laughed. “I believe it. I can’t help but worry.”
“Lord, don’t I know it?” She had that twinkle in her eye when she said it. “It’s a little heat. I brought an umbrella. I’m not going to melt.”
“Old habits.”
“Speaking of,” Jordan said, “can I talk to you?”
I frowned. “About what?”
“Just hear him out, Jules,” my mom said.
She was the only one who ever got away with using that nickname. My dad hated it. I never used it or let anyone else call me that. But my mom did what she wanted. She also used it when she needed to get her way.
“What?” I demanded.
“Dad is coming back into town.”
“So?”
Jordan sighed. He ran a hand back through his dark hair, the mirror image of mine. And yet he was in a button-up with the sleeves rolled up and khakis while I was in a red soccer uniform. So similar and so different. “He wants to have dinner.”
“So?” I repeated.
“With you and me.”
“No thanks.”
“Julian, please. He’s trying. He’s flying all the way here to see us.”
“Not interested.”
“Could you please stop being petulant for one second?” Jordan asked.
“Petulant?” I seethed. “He’s a bastard, and I have no interest in seeing his face again. Especially after the ambush at the opening.”
“That was…the wrong way to do it.”
“Oh, my big brother admits fault?” I gasped.
He sighed. “Come on, man. Just one dinner. He’s invited Annie, too. It’s going to be casual. If it doesn’t go well, then I’ll leave it alone.”
I could see the desperation in my brother’s face. I wanted to tell him to go fuck himself. But this was Jordan. This was my best friend and protector. The best brother I could have ever asked for. He hadn’t always made the right choices, but he’d always been there for me. He’d even moved here for me when he really didn’t want to. Would it kill me to suffer through one dinner with our dad to please Jordan?
“If it’s as bad as I suspect, then that’s it, Jor.”
He nodded and held his hand out. “Deal.”
I ground my teeth together but shook his hand. “Fine.”
It felt like a death sentence.
Then I found a spot of sunlight in a sea of faces, and another thought occurred to me. If Jordan was bringing Annie, maybe I could bring someone, too, and this wouldn’t be a total loss.
16
Jennifer
“Are you sure?” I asked Piper and Blaire before I could stop myself.
It was an old habit, believing that no one else would want my presence near them.
“Yes!” Blaire cried. “I think it’ll be awesome.”
“It’s your house, Piper,” I said.
“Jennifer,” Piper said, putting her hand on my shoulder, “we want you to move in with us.”
“Bradley just finished a remodel on the guest bathroom,” Blaire explained. “Before, it was really a half-bath that connected to the living room, but now, it’s the full-blown deal. So, there are three full baths. We won’t even have to share.”
“It does still connect to the living room,” Piper said, as if that would talk me out of it. “Guests would still use your bathroom.”
“Would that be a problem?” Blaire asked with her wide blue eyes. She recently died her dark-brown hair black as night and it made her eyes pop even more under the shag of her bangs.
They both looked at me with worry. As if I might suddenly change my mind about moving in with them. Tears came to my eyes, and I had to force down the swell of emotions. I’d never really had girlfriends. When I’d gotten Annie and Sutton, I’d felt like I’d won some lottery. Weren’t girls catty and terrible? But, no, that was some bullshit that I’d been force-fed. Girls ruled the world, and they made mine so much better.
Now, I had Piper and Blaire in my circle, too. High school Jennifer would have never believed it. Especially because Piper had been a year older than me in high school. She’d always seemed so much more with it. I hadn’t known Blaire. She was two years younger, still only twenty-five, but she’d grown up with Piper, and now, I couldn’t imagine life without them all.
“It would be amazing,” I told them truthfully.
“I’m so excited!” Blaire threw her arms around me, jumping up and down in her Tacos uniform. Her long ponytail swinging around wildly from the back of her characteristic Blaire Blush baseball cap.
I laughed and hugged her back. “Me too.”
“I’ll get together a lease,” Piper said, all efficient. “When do you want to move in?”
“Annie is moving Wednesday,” I said with a sigh. I was still sad to see her go. “I’ll need to track down boxes, but then I don’t know…Saturday?”
“Oh my God, Saturday!” Blaire cried.
Annie jogged over then with Sutton and her toddler, Madison, in tow. “What’s happening Saturday?”